{"id":98501,"date":"2024-07-20T17:53:18","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T17:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/20\/competitive-capital-ism-andhra-pradesh-revives-amaravati-chhattisgarh-seeks-special-grant-for-nava-raipur-atal-nagar-expansion\/"},"modified":"2024-07-20T17:53:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T17:53:19","slug":"competitive-capital-ism-andhra-pradesh-revives-amaravati-chhattisgarh-seeks-special-grant-for-nava-raipur-atal-nagar-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/20\/competitive-capital-ism-andhra-pradesh-revives-amaravati-chhattisgarh-seeks-special-grant-for-nava-raipur-atal-nagar-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Competitive capital-ism: Andhra Pradesh revives Amaravati, Chhattisgarh seeks special grant for Nava Raipur Atal Nagar expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Competitive<\/div>


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When Andhra Pradesh<\/a> demands Rs 15,000 crore for its new capital Amaravati<\/a>, can\u2019t Chhattisgarh<\/a> make a similar pitch? The Chhattisgarh government has appealed to the 16th Finance Commission for a special grant of Rs 4,131 crore to bolster its new capital, Nava Raipur<\/a> Atal Nagar. When FC chairman Arvind Panagariya and his team visited Raipur earlier this month, the state presented a 10-point proposal encompassing infrastructure development such as new roads, cycle tracks, indoor stadium and a substantial IT building spanning 100,000 sq m.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Government of India gives a special financial grant for Amaravati in the forthcoming budget, we should also receive the same,\u201d says Chhattisgarh Finance Minister OP Choudhary, while speaking to ET over the phone. \u201cNava Raipur, in fact, deserves more, as Chhattisgarh has already invested Rs 8,000 crore from the state coffer.\u201d He adds that the state is exploring various financial instruments to raise funds, including a `1,000 crore Nava Raipur bond, and leveraging a 6,000 acre land bank to attract private sector investment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nava Raipur Atal Nagar\u2014previously known as Naya Raipur (\u201cNava\u201d means new in the Chhattisgarhi dialect)\u2014is set to expand from its initial expanse of 80 sq km to 237 sq km. The new city is located 20 km southeast of Raipur. Of late, state officials have been courting private investors across sectors such as IT (with plug-and-play facilities), pharmaceuticals, electronics, logistics and defence.<\/p>\n

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NEIGHBOUR\u2019S ENVY?<\/strong>
So, has the revitalised Amaravati project in nearby Andhra Pradesh catalysed these efforts to secure additional central grants and attract investment?In Andhra Pradesh, the return of N Chandrababu Naidu as chief minister has rekindled the Amaravati capital project, which was sidelined by his predecessor, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. As the Union budget approaches, Naidu\u2019s demand for a substantial grant of `15,000 crore from the Central government is being reportedly given serious consideration, influenced by political necessities. The survival of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government hinges on allies like Naidu\u2019s Telugu Desam Party, which has 16 MPs in Lok Sabha. Minister Choudhary underlines Nava Raipur\u2019s superior infrastructure compared with Amaravati, and its projects such as township, 18-hole golf course, international cricket stadium, resort, electronic manufacturing cluster, hospital and top-tier educational institutions such as the Indian Institute of Management and the International Institute of Information Technology. \u201cIndia needs many greenfield cities; let Amaravati thrive too. It\u2019s in a different geography. We are not competitors,\u201d he says.Despite the minister\u2019s assertions, Nava Raipur has struggled to attract top-tier private players since its inception in 2006, nine years prior to the launch of Amaravati. The foundation stone for the Nava Raipur capital complex, now home to the state secretariat building, was laid in January 2008.<\/p>\n

Saurabh Kumar, CEO of the Nava Raipur Development Authority, says there has been a surge in interest for investment in the new capital region over the past six months. \u201cWe are at various stages of engagement with industry leaders in the services and manufacturing sectors, including Teleperformance, Mahindra Group, Prestige Group, Total Environment, Yash Fans, MIC Electronics<\/a> and Indraprastha Gas<\/a>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The authority has allocated about 1,500 hectares of land to private and government entities, and projects an investment influx of about Rs 15,000 crore through both public- and private-sector participation. Has the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh deterred major private-sector conglomerates from investing in the state, which was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000? \u201cIn terms of area, Chhattisgarh is larger than Tamil Nadu or Bihar. Naxalism is confined to small, isolated pockets, far from the capital city,\u201d says Choudhary, adding that any perceived impact of Maoism on the state\u2019s investment prospects is largely due to misconceptions.<\/p>\n

While Nava Raipur (237 sq km) and Amaravati (217 sq km) will be comparable in size once they are fully developed, their approaches to construction have been remarkably different. From the outset, Naidu envisioned Amaravati as a grand capital with opulent buildings, riverfront development and world-class town planning, enlisting a consortium from Singapore as the master developer. This plan was shelved by his successor in 2019. However, it is widely speculated that Naidu will unveil his vision for Amaravati once he secures an allocation in the forthcoming Union budget.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Nava Raipur began more modestly, primarily driven by Hyderabad-based infrastructure companies. Despite a humble start, the city progressed steadily, focusing mainly on sustainable growth and funding from the state\u2019s own resources.<\/p>\n

Former Union Urban Development secretary M Ramachandran emphasises the need for developing greenfield cities such as Amaravati and Nava Raipur, noting that India has constructed only a few new cities (e.g., Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar) since Independence. \u201cWe have yet to establish a proper model for developing existing cities. We end up adding a few elements here and there without addressing core issues such as congestion and mobility,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He says Uttarakhand, which was formed in 2000, missed an opportunity due to the lack of suitable land in the hills near Dehradun.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, a land lobby in Dehradun prevented the flourishing of another nearby city,\u201d says Ramachandran, who served as the chief secretary of the new state before joining the Centre as urban development secretary. All eyes will now be on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman\u2019s red tablet as she steps into Parliament on Tuesday to deliver her budget speech. How much of Naidu\u2019s Amaravati proposal will be granted? And will there be any allocation for Nava Raipur as well?
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Andhra Pradesh demands Rs 15,000 crore for its new capital Amaravati, can\u2019t Chhattisgarh make a similar pitch? The Chhattisgarh government has appealed to the 16th Finance Commission for a special grant of Rs 4,131 crore to bolster its new capital, Nava Raipur Atal Nagar. When FC chairman Arvind Panagariya and his team visited Raipur […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-42031747\/et-logo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[42661,3190,3188,18016,82991,3255,1104,5432,1034,82990,382,82989,13520,82992,82988,2142,20200,43709,5113,6303],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98501"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98503,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98501\/revisions\/98503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}